Fed R&D funding up 6%, reversing flat trend
Total federal funding for research and development rose 6%, or $3.7 billion, in the most recent government statistics, reversing flat funding last year, mainly because of a $1.3 billion upswing in research obligations by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Nationwide, funding was $127.93 billion, with industry grabbing $50.16 billion, universities and colleges $ 27.11 billion and state and local governments $338.88 million. The data is from a National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics InfoBrief culling information from fiscal years 2013 and 2014.
Maine pulled in $131.1 million in total federal funding, with colleges and universities getting $26.5 million, industry $8.76 million, other nonprofits 74 million and state and local governments $2.3 million.
Not surprisingly, Massachusetts, which routinely is one of the largest attractor of federal agency funding nationally, led the New England states with $6.27 billion in total funding, with $2.2 billion of that in industry, $1.6 billion in universities and colleges and $9.6 million for state and local governments. Following in order are Connecticut with $2.3 billion total, Rhode Island with $555.3 million, New Hampshire with $335.9 million and Vermont in last place, just after Maine, with $115.7 million.
Obligations for basic research, which focuses on fundamental scientific exploration, increased 6% to $31.6 billion, while those for applied research, which focuses on gaining knowledge or understanding to meet a specific need, increased by 6% to $31.3 billion.
The InfoBrief noted that preliminary data indicates that federal research funding remained relatively flat at $63.4 billion in FY2015, and then increased by $2.7 billion, to $66.2 billion, in FY2016.
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